HABITS AND LIFE HISTORY OF THE TOADFISH. IO91 



forceps, at which they would snap and take the oyster or piece of fish. One 

 fish, after several days of this kind of experience, would gently close his mouth 

 on the end of the forceps and pull the meat off, or finding none there would 

 (especially if his head had been stroked or tickled with the forceps) close his 

 mouth gently and let go without manifesting irritation. 



To sum up the whole matter, my experience is that even such vicious fish, 

 as many of these are, can in the majority of cases be tamed, if they are not 

 teased or otherwise unnecessarily disturbed, if they are fed regularly and by 

 the same person, and if they are not handled roughly and punished when they 

 bite. Further, confinement and hunger are factors which must play a great 

 part in taming fish. Fish guarding shells with eggs are much more likely to 

 bite than those in empty shells, even though ordinarily they may be handled 

 with impunity. 



Fighting tendencies. — The toads are very much given to fighting among 



themselves. On one occasion a big fellow twice tried to swallow one slightly 



smaller than himself, and had gotten him down as far as back of the eyes, when 



by catching each by the tail I separated them. After the second separation they 



remained quiet, the smaller seeming not much worse for the experience. Six 



days later my attention was attracted by a great commotion in the tank, and 



I found that a large fish had clinched a smaller one as above described, and 



so determined was he that he let go only when struck repeatedly on the head 



with a piece of iron pipe. These were presumably the same pair as the above. 



Linton (1901) records a similar occurrence as follows: 



I have seen a toadfish in the aquarium in the act of swallowing another of its own 

 species but little smaller than itself. 



He also notes finding a partly digested toadfish in the stomach of another. 



Just in proportion as the fish were well fed their propensities for fighting 

 increased. During the first week in July, 1907, quite a number were in the 

 large tank elsewhere referred to and were a lively lot. They were especially 

 active at night after the lights were out and the laboratory was deserted. On 

 coming in late at night, not infrequently a tremendous splashing could be 

 heard, and, on striking a light, the fish could be seen fighting all over the tank. 

 Morning after morning the floor around the tank would be wet with water 

 thrown out in their struggles. So far as observations went, there was no 

 attempting to swallow, but simply clinching and breaking away. This was 

 again noted the last week in the same month. 



DISEASES. 



So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, the toadfish, oecause of his 

 retiring manner of life, has both few enemies and few diseases. The latter are 



